Week #15 - Boards, Mud & Tape

(April 26 - May 2, 2010)

The rooms in the house really started to take shape this week. A drywalling crew arrived on Monday to 'board' up the house - meaning, they hung the drywall. A team of 6 guys worked all day Monday and a couple of hours on Tuesday to hang drywall on the main and second floors. Fast, fast work. It brings us one step closer to a finished home now that we can't see between through the framing from one end of the house to the other! Surprisingly, the rooms don't look any smaller boarded up than without drywall.

The gas was supposed to be hooked up on Wednesday so that the furnaces could be fired up in preparation for the mudding and taping crew. Supposed to was the operative phrase - it didn't get hooked up Wed, Thur or Fri this week but this did not stop production. Some heaters were brought in to warm the house, allowing the mud/tape guys to get started on Thursday. I stopped in on Thursday to find 2 guys in shorts and t-shirts walking around on metal stilts. Talented and fast. They put up rows of drywall tape like nobody's business. Kieran thought they were pretty interesting too. :) Estimated time to completion for tape and mud is a week Thursday. Judging by how they motor around, they could be done sooner! Here are some pics of the house with the drywall and beginning stages of the mudding and taping (mud/tape guys on stilts; Kitchen; Great Room; Kieran's room; Master bedroom).

Keeping with the 'building a better house' theme by actually using insulation, the attic insulation was blown in on Wednesday. For the first time, I actually felt too warm in the house. Hallejuah!!

Work also started on the planned replacement of the water lines on our property that tie into the city's water/sewage system. This involved cutting holes in the basement to run the lines. With any luck, we'll start the process for bringing the lead content of our water down while increasing the water pressure to the house. There is some work that needs to be done by the city on their lines to make both of these things happen. A discussion for another time...

The exterior siding material (James Hardie fibre cement siding product) was delivered on Friday. The installers should get to work on that next week.

This week was also very productive from a materials selection standpoint. All the interior paint colours were selected on Friday. Yeah! Designer Sue brought some great options over for the hearths of the fireplaces. We settled on two granite samples which are going to look fantastic. We also received a quote for the exposed aggregate material that I'd like to use for the front porch and stairs. Paul sourced a supplier that has a thinset product that looks amazing. The price was right so we have our front porch material selected. Another check. Finally, all of the floor finishes have been finalized. I was waffling on a slate option vs. the exposed aggregate material for the mudroom/back entry. Slate is the material of choice and with that, the flooring selections are fait accompli. So while the selection list is reduced by another few items, there are still some big (lighting) and small things to tackle.

8 weeks and counting...

Week #14 - Ready for Drywall

(April 19 - 25, 2010)

With the exception of some green grass sprouting, the outside of Casa Roa remains largely unchanged this week. The inside is a different story however. The interior was spray foamed to fill the cracks followed by insulation and vapour barrier. It took a crew but one day to install the insulation. It is noticeably quieter in the house now.

Kieran (and her sidekick Jerome the Giraffe) makes her Casa Roa blog debut this week. She is pointing out the obvious lack of cabinetry, sink and other missing elements in the kitchen (see below). So far, she seems to approve of the new digs.

Here's a shot of the newly insulated Great Room with the drywall in the foreground. The drywall crew is scheduled to start hanging drywall on Tuesday next week.

The drywall was delivered on Friday. The upstairs bedroom window had to be removed to get the drywall up to the second floor.

I spent an excessive amount of time on the phone this week to get our gas reconnected. Who knew that there is a lack of communication between ATCO and the gas retailers?! There is some room for streamlining the process. Understatement. I was thinking that these inefficiencies were limited to an entity that shall remain nameless that we've had the pleasure of tangling with. Does it really take 5 business days to transmit customer information to a supplier via the Internet?!?! I'm sure that Canada Post could get it there more quickly. Wow.

A quick update on the selection front - with Sue's assistance, I have started the paint selection process. If I thought that posting pics of the potential paint colours would translate over the web effectively, I'd solicit opinions. One more decision nearly complete!!

Finally, I received an updated schedule from the builder. We have a tentative move-in date for July 9!

Weeks #11-13 - Selections and Inspections

(March 29 - April 19, 2010)

Its been almost a full month since I last sat down to chronicle the tales of Casa Roa. I'm combining weeks 11, 12 and 13 in one post to get caught up. The bulk of my time has been spent on tile, tile and more tile...as well as other selection refinements like cabinet stain and tweaking previously made decisions about headers and casing. Sigh. It is so consuming at times but the effort to revisit a tile store or rethink the way a header looks will hopefully pull everything together and look more polished. I've enlisted the help of Sue Heinz (an interior design gal) to help with my second guessing ways. She has been fantastic!! I will post pictures of the final selections once these are determined. So close - I'm hopeful that week #14 will be the week that many of these decisions are finalized.

Week #11 (March 29-April 4, 2010)

This was the start of the tile selection process. I visited several tile retailers in search of tile for Casa Roa including bathroom floors, backsplashes, tub/shower surrounds, floor tile for the front and back entryways as well as the mudroom and something for the kitchen backsplash. Oh yeah, and some sort of stone for the fireplace surrounds. Let me tell you, the tile choices are abundant. The secret is to find someone in the store that has the time to pull samples for you rather than aimlessly wandering. Question - why do the tile retailers hang floor samples on the wall? Some have these nifty pull out trays that more closely resemble placement on the floor which is helpful. BTW - all retailers should remove their fluorescent lights! Anyways, I babble. I succeeded in finding some stuff that I liked but am far from finished.

My business colleague and good friend John Somers came by the house this week to do a walk-through for our security system install. We are putting a DiCam Property Control System in the house - it is a self-monitored system that monitors intrusion, water leaks, hi-lo temperature and other things that we may wish to keep an eye on. Part of the intrusion system includes video surveillance. If you'd like to learn more about the DiCam system, let me know...

The HVAC work was completed. Furnaces and ductwork are installed.

The central vaccuum system was marked out by the Vacuflo lady.

The most noticeable change this week was the digging of a trench through the backyard and halfway down the side of our house. This trench is needed to bury our electric and gas services. Until now, our electricity line hung precariously from a pole out in the alley onto the roof of the old house. It isn't a cheap process but one that we will be glad to have completed. The electricians will put the line in the ground and Enmax will come over to hook it up and inspect. After this is done, the temporary electricity set-up will be removed. Good stuff!

Week #12 (April 5- 11, 2010)

The electricians and plumbers finished up their work this week.

The building inspector arrived on Friday to inspect the various mechanical components of the house including electrical, HVAC and plumbing. All were approved! Excellent! With these approvals complete, the builder will finish up some framing that had to remain opened up for inspection purposes. The building inspector should return next week to complete the framing inspection.

I had a productive meeting with Paul and Sue to review all of the selections including the cabinet stains. The cabinet colour wasn't there quite yet so we made a suggestions for tweaking the colour and will reconvene next week. Until this is done, we won't look at paint samples. With Sue's help, we made a quick stop and finished up the tile selections. Phew!!

Week #13 (April 12 - 19, 2010)

The trench in the backyard was backfilled on Tuesday. In Perry's words, you no longer have to have the grace of a mountain goat to move around back there. :)

The building inspector was scheduled to arrive on Friday. He had not arrived when I was there at 1:30pm. At press time, I still did not have the final verdict. Will have an update early next week. With a framing inspection completed and approved, the drywalling crew should arrive Monday to start insulating followed by hanging drywall and mudding. This will really give the interior some shape. This should make for some good photo opportunities!

Week #10 - Back on Track

(March 22-28, 2010)

You may have noted the title of the this week's update and might be wondering what the heck this means? Last week was a whirlwind of activity (including a business trip to Edmonton to set the week in motion) none of which had anything to do with Casa Roa. My sister Carmen was married on the first day of spring (20th) to Mike. Congratulations!! It was a fantastic day preceeded by a week of festivities and preparations. Fun times and well worth the distraction from the construction homefront to partake in the celebrations. So, despite feeling a wee bit tired, I'm getting back on track...

Here is the weekly shot of the exterior of Casa Roa. As you can see, not much has changed since last week. The Jameswood crew tidied up the front yard and the security fence is down leaving a clearer view of the house from the street. Its looking more like home and less like a construction zone!

Quick recap of the week...

The HVAC crew was in to continue with the furnace installation. The furnaces were delivered. Yes, two furnaces - one to heat the upstairs and the other to heat the main floor and basement. Perhaps this is overkill but considering (a) 8 years of space heaters and slippers round-the-clock and (b) this is the overbuilt house, this HVAC set-up is entirely appropriate.

The electricians arrived on Friday to start on the wiring. Nothing to report just yet on this part of construction.

Now that the basement floor is complete, the framing for the new section of the basement was started. If you check out the picture below, you can see where the old wall was cut out (left side of photo). Its a solid chunk of concrete that has some decorative appeal (once you get up close to see the exposed aggregate). :)

And last but not least, the bath tub has been installed!! It was a surprise to see it sitting there all by its lonely self. And look! More insulation. Now we have three times as much insulation as the old house.

Week #9 - A Brief Update

(March 15-21, 2010)

This has been an incredibly busy week!! My sister Carmen was married on Saturday. What a great way to mark the first day of Spring. I had many bridesmaid duties (not to mention a whirlwind trip to Edmonton for a business meeting) that kept me away from the house. The show did however, go on in my absence - thank goodness!!

I haven't had an opportunity to take any Week #9 progress pics but I've listed the highlights below. I'll write more in next week's blog, complete with photos.

• Temporary locks have been installed on all the doors. The front security fence was taken down.
• The basement floor was poured on Friday. It was covered and heated over the weekend to help with the curing process.
• The HVAC crew was in on Thursday to start installing the duct work for the furnace.
• The Jameswood crew installed the rest of the basement windows and tidied up the site. Looking good.

Next week: the electrican(s) start Monday, HVAC continues installation and I'm sure there is lots of selection work for me to get done.

Week #8 - Work Moves Indoors

(March 8-14, 2010)





This is a shot of Casa Roa at the beginning and end of Week #8.

As expected, work began indoors. The plumbing rough-ins were completed.

On Friday, Paul and I did a walk-thru of the house to review everything electrical. We went through every room in the house to check placement and type of electrical component. Good thing! We made only a few but important changes. Without them, we would have had those annoying light switches in places that make no sense. Okay, it was only one but a great save nonetheless. :) All set for the electrican(s) to come in and wire the house up.

The basement...we aren't doing a great deal of development in the basement. In the short term, its primary use will be a fitness area. Joey is in charge of getting this set up. In the meantime, we are having the walls framed and we will take care of the rest, with the help of our brother in-law Sean and others. This is what the basement is looking like right now. There is a big engineered wall offering some support to the main floor. Apparently it is overbuilt, like much of the original foundation, but its better to be safe than sorry.




So, Joey and I often speak about the lack of insulation in the old house. Demolition revealed how energy inefficient this house truly was. The following picture shows how much more efficient the new house already is! Not sure how this piece of insulation found its way into the house but I appreciate the humour in finding it all by its lonesome. A sign of things being on track...

One of the items that Joey and I had on our wish list for the project was the use of recycling for the construction materials. At the time we initated the project, Paul was exploring construction recycling options only to tell us this was not something that was readily available but would continue to check it out. Since this time, Paul has found a recycling solution and I/we are thrilled. In our backyard are two bins - a white bin for waste and a blue bin for recyclables (new construction material only (cardboard, plastic, etc.), not demolition waste). Signs are posted throughout the house that detail which materials are waste and which ones can be recycled. The recyclables are trucked to Okotoks to be sorted. Waste goes to the dump. The company that is responsible for this set-up will track the ratio of recycled material to waste and provide us with a report of this breakdown at the completion of the project. Why is this significant? Other than making us feel good about the amount of material we're not putting in the landfill, this reporting mechanism will be used for future construction projects where homebuilders can recoup portions of an anticipated waste levy that will eventually be paid to the City during the permitting process. We did not pay a levy but apparently its just around the corner. Nonetheless, we're happy that our builder was able to implement a recycling program. Thanks Jameswood!!

Week #7 - Final Framing Bits and a Roof!

(March 1-7, 2010)

The week's activities focused on finishing up the framing. This included installing the front door, the basement walls (including the heavy duty engineered wall), skirting on the front porch, cutting out the vents and other final details.

A roofing crew descended on the house for a few days to shingle the roof.

When time permits, I will post some pics of the house with the new roof and front door. I suspect that the visual progress will start to slow as the trades move in doors.

Next week: plumbing rough-ins and HVAC